Success and Your Name

Reminding us of her grandfather (Charles), of her great-grandmother (Elizabeth), her grandmother (Diana) and a rather long list of English royalty, the newborn Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, aka Charlotte Elizabeth Diana Windsor, surely had her name carefully crafted.

Names make a difference.

Pronunciation

One NYU study cites the name pronunciation effect. Not only do people with easier to pronounce names make a better initial impression on others but they have higher status positions at law firms. The reason could be what the researchers call processing fluency. Because it feels better when a name is easy to articulate, we react positively to the individual with the name.

Familiarity

If your name is Mary, John or some other common name, the odds are higher that you will be hired. A group from Marquette University concluded that the common name bias stems from similarity. We tend to favor people who are like us, who have our values. So, when names conjure an image of the people we know and trust and like, we have a positive inclination toward those people.

The Alphabet

Researchers have even identified a correlation between the first letter of your name and your success. They noticed that more people whose names began with letters toward the beginning of the alphabet were accepted by competitive colleges.

Two other scholars concluded that people who grew up with “late alphabet” last names like Yardley or Zabar tended to make faster (and perhaps less wise) spending decisions. The rationale here is always being at the end of the line, they had less time to say, “yes.”

And finally, people with names connoting nobility are more likely to occupy higher ranking positions.

I guess that returns us to Charlotte Elizabeth Diana.

Our Bottom Line: Human Capital

By potentially impacting job opportunities, college admissions, and spending decisions, our names affect our human capital.